FRISCO, Texas – Keep hearing that at the trade deadline the Cowboys stood pat, didn't make a move for a player and didn't sell off.
As for the latter, get it. The Cowboys are 4-5 with the Niners coming to town on Sunday. But sell off? Like, give up? Wave the white flag? And by the way, who you selling? George Pickens? Not sure their phone was ringing.
Standing pat? Seriously?
The Cowboys made their move at this time last year. Spent their 2027 first-round draft choice and this year's second on now four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. And I will propose to you, the Big Q might have been the best trade-deadline acquisition last year and for sure one of the best, if not the best, non-quarterback trade-deadline acquisition this year.
We can argue this year about the Bears trading for defensive tackle Jeremy Simmons, and say what you want about the Vikings spending only a third to grab QB Kirk Cousins. But then quarterbacks are of a different breed.
But when it comes to defensive tackles, Williams is the best defensive tackle playing for the Cowboys since Jason Hatcher during his 2013 Pro Bowl season, and just maybe since they got four Pro Bowl seasons out of La'Roi Glover in the early 2000s. And if we go way back, has to be then Chad Hennings and Leon Lett.
But for sheer singular impact, and especially of late, have to go back to the performance of one Hall of Famer Randy White, from 1975 through his final season of 1988, for most impactful since Bob Lilly. And look, this is no hyperbole over Williams, though. Let the numbers do my talking.
In the last four games, Q has produced four sacks, 10 tackles for loss, 16 QB pressures and one very important forced fumble in the win over Indianapolis. For the nine-game season so far, his totals are 36 tackles, five sacks, 14 tackles for loss, 29 QB pressures, two forced fumbles and a pass-defensed. And let's put those tackles into perspective. His 36 ties him for third on the team with DaRon Bland, and just two short of Dee Winters' 38 in second.
Let's also put his NFL-leading 14 TFLs into perspective, and remember there still are eight games to go. The last NFL defensive tackle with 14 TFLs in the first nine games of a season was Washington's Cornelius Griffin in 2004. That's 22 years ago, back when Q was a 6-year-old.
Also know this: Williams has now played a full season's worth of games with the Cowboys, the final eight last year and the nine this year, totaling 17. His numbers: 57 tackles, 6½sacks, 17 TFLs, 38 QB pressures, two forced fumbles, two passes broken up.
And if all that were not enough to qualify my stance on his stellar performances, the Cowboys did not stand pat when acquiring the Big Q. That move was not just for last season but for the future, and that includes now. So don't take my word for it. Listen to Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer after Sunday's victory in Indianapolis:
"If there's a better interior defensive lineman than him in the league, I haven't been around one in a long time. He's just dominant, where he can change the game. And as a man, like I said, I think he and Kenny (Clark) inside, they really willed us to go get this victory, and the guys followed their lead because the push inside in the pocket was incredible."
Rest my case.
• I Want You: This reminds me of the very patriotic poster back in the 1960s and early 1970s of Uncle Sam dressed in red, white and blue, encouraging the masses to sign up for military duty. Well, the Cowboys need to recreate that poster and tape it to the lockers of Pickens and Joey Porter Jr., especially this Sunday for the 3:25 p.m. nationally televised game from AT&T with these 7-1 Niners. Both players were listed last week as questionable for the Colts game while "limited" in practice and then designated inactive for the game, Pickens with a hamstring and Porter with that nagging ankle. Porter did not practice on Wednesday, and Pickens was very limited in the portion open to the media, basically during individual drills jogging alongside some passing drills. If possible for this one, Cowboys need all hands on deck.
• Veterans/Remembrance Day: Twelve years ago around this Nov. 11 time, amreminded we were in London for the Cowboys game on Nov. 9 against Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium. The Brits in London were not only celebrating the 100th year memory of the 1914 start of World War I at that time but also celebrating what back in the old days was called Armistice Day, when the Germans surrendered to the Allied troops on what has become the well-respected in England 11-11-11, the 11th month, 11th day and the 11th morning hour of the victory. We were blessed that week to take a Tower of London tour one night, have dinner up top and cross the bridge over the moat where the traditional lit-up ceramic red poppies are planted, representing those who perished during the war. And on the Saturday before the game, we had the privilege of broadcasting our DallasCowboys.com podcast from Sports Bar & Grill in Piccadilly Square during the local Cowboys fan club sponsored fundraiser for the Royal British Legion in front of what had to be several hundred people. A memorable night. Never paid for a beer that evening.
• Opportunities Knock: With the injuries the Cowboys are trying to withstand, and that now includes extended absences for tight end Jake Ferguson (ankle/knee) and Tyler Goodson (knee/ankle), there are those in the background now moving to the forefront. Just this past game,with Pickens and KaVontae Turpin still out, rookie receiver Camden Brown was active for the third time this season. And after just one offensive snap in the previous two games, he received 29 against the Colts, no receptions. And as he told me Wednesday, the goal now is to earn some targets, potentially active again Sunday with wide receiver Jonathan Mingo missing practice on Wednesday (ankle). Also, undrafted rookie Jordan Hudson was elevated from the practice squad for his first NFL game last Sunday, and actually had one target, an incomplete pass on his only offensive snap. And now for this week, with Goodson out, even though the Cowboys signed recently released running back Kendre Miller to the practice squad, a 2023 third-round draft choice of the Saints from tiny Mount Enterprise, Texas, and TCU, there is a good chance practice squad running back Izzy Abanikanda will be elevated to the active game-day roster.
• Worth Repeating: In case of missing my response to Cowboys penalties in our Mailbag entry, wanted to make sure you didn't miss this: A weird statistical category, and by the way, the Cowboys' 74 penalties has them in a three-way tie for second most after nine weeks.Cleveland at 82 has the lead. But you know what, when it comes to opponent penalties, the Cowboys have been the beneficiaries of the most received at 85 and the most yards, 697. That's 30 more than their league-high of 667 yards against. Go figure the symmetry of that. Even a tad more surprising, the Cowboys have been flagged for 48 of their 74 penalties on the road. What's up with that?
• Short & Sweet: While the Eagles have been trade-deadline active selling off, just know they are collecting draft capital in anticipation of potentially needing a first-round quarterback come the 2027 draft with starter Jalen Hurts now out for the season with potentially career-ending blood clot issues … Saw Turpin running awfully well during individual drills for the first time since suffering those rib injuries in the Green Bay game, advancing to limited in practice …Never want to miss the chance of invoking the name of Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett, thanks to Cowboys running back Javonte Williams having rushed for a touchdown in seven consecutive road games, tying Dorsett's franchise record (1977-78) during his first two NFL seasons.
And while we're at it, making sure we don't miss a beat, for this week's final word we go to Dak Prescott after Sunday's 27-23 come-from-behind victory over the Colts, when asked about the performances of receivers CeeDee Lamb and Ryan Flournoy, stepping up in the absences of Pickens and Turpin. As we're aware, CeeDee had 10 catches for 195 yards and a touchdown while Flournoy, playing a season-high 77 snaps (97.5 percent), might have had just two catches for 53 yards, but that one for 46 during the game-winning touchdown drive set up the Cowboys at the Colts' 19-yard line with 1:19 left to play.
"Yeah, I mean, just what I expect from those guys," Dak began. "Honestly, I mean, that's how they practice. That's how they approach the game. That's how detailed they are in everything that they do. Trust me, CeeDee after the game, tells me, 'I owe you about 60 yards and a touchdown,' and that's the standard that he sets for himself that we have and the expectations. Flo's a guy that I can't talk enough about him, and I try to every time just tell you guys what he means to me, what he means to this offense, a guy that does everything right.
"So when I've got an opportunity like that, with a minute left, I've got Flo man-to-man, I don't care necessarily who's guarding him (Sauce Gardner). When that's the read, that's the look that the defense is giving me, I'm going to attack with the utmost trust, and Flo went and showed you why I have that trust. And proud of those guys."
Say no more.
